The Web3 wallet market has begun to shift from MetaMask's "monopoly" to a new situation of "many competitors". The latecomer and first-mover heterogeneous multi-chain ecological wallet "OKX Web3" has five major sections including built-in wallet, DEX, coin earning, NFT market, and DApp exploration. With the advantages of a large number of connected chains and smooth interactive experience, it is expected to usher in explosive growth with the Web3 dividend.
Written by Karen, Foresight News
As the most important infrastructure and huge traffic entrance in the Web3 world, the importance of crypto wallets to the large-scale adoption of Web3 is self-evident.
If we look at the Ethereum account system with a huge user base, Web3 on-chain wallets are mainly divided into EOA (external account) wallets and smart contract wallets. Among them, most EOA wallets represented by MetaMask, OKX Wallet, etc. have natural advantages such as easy address generation and convenient access to Web3 DApp, so they are the most widely used.
Smart contract wallets are represented by Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) and Argent, which allow accounts to be controlled through code. Although they can achieve more complex functions such as multi-signature, more privacy, account recovery, and preset programming, they also have problems such as high threshold for use, high cost, inability to actively initiate transactions, and DApp compatibility.
Smart contract wallets are currently more targeted at B-side users, such as institutions and DAO organizations. For C-side users, EOA wallets with the widest application range and the highest frequency of use are still the best choice, such as MetaMask and imToken with first-mover advantage, and up-and-coming OKX Wallet and Coinbase Walllet led by exchanges. Of course, this type of wallet is also constantly evolving and innovating, for example, the heterogeneous multi-chain ecological wallet OKX Wallet pioneered the DApp non-sensitive chain switching function.
Next, we will compare and evaluate MetaMask, OKX Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, imToken, and Uniswap’s recently launched mobile wallets, and try to make a horizontal comparison from the aspects of wallet functions, DApp ecosystem access, (cross-chain) exchange, and Web3 aggregation entrance that users are most concerned about, so as to help users choose the wallet that suits them best.
Comparison of wallet functions: OKX Wallet connects to more than 50 chains, making it easier to manage assets
First, let’s compare the main functions of a wallet. The main functions of a wallet are nothing more than account generation, ecosystem support, asset management, and security. These are also important criteria for measuring the basic functions of a wallet.
In terms of ecosystem support, MetaMask is only compatible with the Ethereum EVM ecosystem. Users need to configure RPC by themselves, which is cumbersome and less friendly to new users.
In contrast, OKX Wallet focuses on heterogeneous ecology and currently supports six major ecosystems: EVM, UTXO, Cosmos, Tron, Solana, and Move. It has connected to more than 50 chains (mainnets), including common networks such as Ethereum, OKC, Polygon, Solana, Fantom, Arbitrum One, Optimism, emerging public chains such as Aptos, and old architecture chains such as BSV. Users do not need to configure RPC by themselves, which is very convenient for both mainnet users and testnet users. For chains that are not connected, OKX Wallet supports RPC configuration.
imToken supports 12 types of public chain ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, Cosmos, and Ethereum EVM-compatible chains, and supports nearly 30 networks in total. The Coinbase plug-in wallet supports Ethereum and 8 other Ethereum EVM-compatible chains and the Solana ecosystem. The newly launched Uniswap Wallet currently only supports Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum One, and Optimism, and does not support self-configured RPC.
In terms of wallet account generation and key backup, OKX Wallet is one of the few multi-chain wallets on the market that supports the creation of multiple sets of mnemonic wallets and the derivation of multiple accounts from one set of mnemonics. MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet and Uniswap Wallet only support the derivation of multiple accounts from one set of mnemonics; imToken only supports the creation of multiple sets of mnemonic wallets and allows the activation of password-free payment Face ID.
In terms of asset management, OKX Wallet is more intuitive and clear than other wallets. It can provide a summary of all assets, specific currencies, NFTs, historical interaction activities and authorization status under all supported networks. In addition, the web version and mobile version are built into the OKX website and mobile version respectively, which can manage DeFi and CeFi assets at the same time, and can also quickly withdraw coins directly from the exchange account, which is especially convenient for OKX users. Of course, Coinbase Wallet also links with Coinbase to support cryptocurrency purchases and transfers. Transfers between Coinbase users also support using usernames as addresses.
In terms of security and privacy, MetaMask supports the setting of displaying phishing warnings for Ethereum users. However, ConsenSys retains MetaMask user data for 7 days, which has aroused users' concerns about data privacy. OKX Wallet is also constantly improving its security performance. For example, it has accessed the OKX risk address library and supports authorization management. Users can block risky addresses and cancel authorization limits with one click when trading. In response to the recent frequent zero-transfer scams, OKX Wallet has also launched the "head-to-tail similar address phishing detection" security feature to help users avoid such security risks as much as possible.
DApp interactive experience comparison: MetaMask has smooth access, and OKX Wallet is more smooth without any sense of chain switching
The biggest advantage of MetaMask is that it supports smooth access to Ethereum EVM ecosystem DApps, but you need to configure RPC yourself, which is cumbersome. In addition, you need to manually switch chains when accessing multi-chain DApps, which is not very convenient. Sometimes the front end will crash, for example, there will be occasional freezes when signing, the chain loading time is too long, and the currency symbol and balance will occasionally display errors after the chain is switched.
OKX Wallet supports more ecosystems, with more than 50 chains connected. It currently supports seamless chain switching between EVM and Solana ecosystems, especially when accessing multi-chain DApps, without the need for manual chain switching, which is very convenient. In addition, the OKX Wallet experience is relatively smooth during interaction, the time taken to jump to the signature step during interaction is relatively faster, and the information displayed on the signature confirmation page is also more intuitive. It is worth mentioning that the built-in faucet makes OKX Wallet the preferred choice for testnet interaction or airdrop users.
Coinbase also supports seamless chain switching, and the interaction is moderately smooth. Since imToken and Uniswap Wallet only support mobile terminals, you need to connect to DApp on the web page through WalletConnet on the mobile terminal, and you need to sign on the mobile terminal when switching networks or interacting with multi-chain DApps. The default signing method of imToken is to enter the wallet password, which is relatively safe but more troublesome. However, you can also set Face ID to pay without password. Uniswap Wallet only needs to confirm the signature, and the interaction is relatively smooth.
Comparison between built-in transactions and cross-chain transactions: MetaMask quotes slowly, while OKX Wallet is relatively smooth
MetaMask has a built-in Swap function that aggregates prices from multiple DEXs and individual market makers, but it charges a fee of 0.875% (automatically included in the quote). The web Portfolio DApp supports cryptocurrency purchases and transactions, and also integrates cross-chain bridge functions.
The OKX Wallet trading section aggregates more than 100 DEXs, comprehensively calculates prices, slippage, and network fees, and provides users with the best trading path through X-Routing intelligent order splitting, without charging any platform fees. Users can also set slippage and network fees according to their needs (slow, average, and fast options are available). In addition, the OKX Wallet Gas Station allows the use of on-chain wallets without Gas, which can solve users' urgent needs.
The imToken trading service has been deeply integrated with its incubated DEX protocol Tokenlon. In addition to flash exchange, it also supports issuing current price orders on Ethereum and paying miner fees with tokens during transactions. Uniswap Wallet currently only supports single-chain exchange. During the test, the trading experience was relatively smooth, but the slippage was sometimes too high. Both transactions were completed through Uniswap V3.
From the overall experience, the built-in Swap function of the MetaMask plug-in wallet is relatively convenient, but a handling fee is required, and the speed of obtaining quotes is sometimes slow, and sometimes there are errors on the quote page; the cross-chain exchange function provided by OKX Wallet on the web and mobile terminals is relatively outstanding in terms of the speed and smoothness of obtaining quotes, and the trading trends, currency pool size, trading activities and other data provided by the trading section can help better assist transactions.
Which wallet can meet the one-stop Web3 wallet needs?
OKX Wallet is a comprehensive heterogeneous multi-chain ecological wallet on the market. In addition to the wallet and DEX, it also has five major sections including coin earning, NFT market, and DApp exploration, which can basically meet the needs of a one-stop Web3 wallet.
In addition, OKX Wallet has carefully polished and extended each function according to user needs and industry trends. For example, the coin earning section supports more than 300 on-chain income options, and allows one-click cross-currency investment. It can deposit any currency into the liquidity pool to save network fees, which is also very convenient; the NFT market integrates 11 chains such as Ethereum, OKC, BNB Chain, Polygon, Aptos, etc., aggregates mainstream NFT markets such as OpenSea, LooksRare, X2Y2 and Magic Eden, and supports multi-platform orders, NFT shopping cart experience and NFT creation; the discovery section aggregates thousands of DApps to explore, and the DeFi and chain game trends presented are also relatively refreshing and intuitive. It is worth mentioning that OKX Wallet has also recently launched the Bitcoin Ordinal NFT fidelity collection - Bitcoin Punks (NFT encapsulated by Emblem Vault).
MetaMask is also testing staking, but currently only integrates Lido Staked ETH (stETH) and Rocket Pool Staked ETH (rETH). The Coinbase Wallet DApp exploration page has access to the Coinbase NFT market and some popular DApps, but you need to jump to use it. imToken supports stablecoin financial management and Cosmos, Polkadot, Kusama and Tezos staking mining, and also supports ecological application exploration, but the types are relatively small. The Web3 exploration page of Uniswap Wallet is actually just a list of tokens ranked by the transaction volume, TVL or market value of the Uniswap trading protocol, and it loads slowly when searching.
summary
In summary, the Web3 wallet market has begun to change from MetaMask's "monopoly" to a new situation of "many competitors". MetaMask and imToken, which have first-mover advantages, are slow to update and the user experience needs to be optimized. Although Uniswap Wallet was launched by the leading trading protocol, it does not have much innovation and the product is relatively rough. In contrast, while doing a good job as a wallet, OKX Wallet is entering Web3 from the trading, NFT market, and DApp exploration sectors. In addition, the linkage with OKX also enables it to enjoy the huge traffic resources of the exchange.
In addition, OKX Wallet's user-friendly experience in terms of ease of use, convenience, and interactive fluency will experience explosive growth along with the Web3 dividend. It will be a good daily choice for DeFi, NFT players, and on-chain users who have testnet interaction needs.